How to Enable Recording on Sony SVR2000 Series 1 w/o sub?

I recently purchased three SVR-2000 Sony Series 1 Tivos for friends and family thinking they were the same as my other Phillips Tivos, which allow recording by time and channel, manually, without a subscription.

I use ANTENNA ONLY, and know how to run the guided setup to set it up for antenna and make the call for local channels, etc.

I can view live TV and time-shifing on live TV, however, it won't allow recording live TV, nor will it allow scheduled recording by time and channel.

How can I enable this so it will work like any other NON-Sony Series 1 and let me record without a sub?

Something else you need to check - look on the Account Information page and see which version of software it is running. Version 2.0 will not let you record - just have it connect to Tivo and it will download 3.0 and re-enable the manual record. (Someone correct me if I am wrong about this on an SVR-2000 - only have a Phillips here)

The problem is that if a Clear and Delete Everything has been done, that clears the "unsubbed recording ok" flag on qualified units. The solution in the past has been to PM TiVoJerry with the TSN, wait for his response, force a "daily call", and that should do it. If the TiVo CSRs can do this now, so much the better.

Jerry has said that "most" SVR-2000s do not qualify for this, but I believe he is mistaken in this. Most shipped with version 1.3, which was ok for unsubbed recording. A few at the end of the manufacturing run shipped with an updated ROM and 2.0, and do not qualify. The version currently running is not relevant.

Version 3.0 is what would be the latest for those boxes. One way that might give you a clue is to open the box and look at the disk drive. If it is the original 30GB drive, it may have a label or stamp on it with the TiVo software version number. I don't know of another way to tell on your own.

Is there another place I should get the CSR phone number from? I said "from the Tivo screen", meaning the nag screen you get when you try to record and it says "call tivo at 877-367-8486". That's what I meant.

Thanks for tips on finding the PROM version, I'll take the top of and take a look.

Just wondering, could the Sony Tivo CSR's be able to tell what prom version the units are?

Is there another place I should get the CSR phone number from? I said "from the Tivo screen", meaning the nag screen you get when you try to record and it says "call tivo at 877-367-8486". That's what I meant.

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You have to expect that around here when you word something so poorly.

You can't call from your tivo screen (or phone book or your hand or a business card or a cocktail napkin) but you can call using the number on your tivo screen (or phone book or your hand or a business card or cocktail napkin)

I called the Tivo CSR's today as you suggested, and everyone I spoke to from tech support to customer service was lost and clueless as could be not only about how to enable the SVR2000 to record, but they also sounded like they really didn't even know what an SVR2000 was!

The Tivo "service numbers" on the back are valid with Tivo (they could find the accounts although closed), so surely they must aknowledge these ARE tivo units. They tried to say that I must call Sony for support, until I got them to reallize these ARE Tivo units, and I was calling the only number displayed by the Sony unit to call for support.

Do you guys have any other advice how I can make these units record? I got three of them as gifts for people and didn't expect this to happen.

Over time the amount of knowledge we have to train our agents on has grown to an amount that precludes us being able to teach them about this particular situation. In general they are trained to provide support for whatever we as a company deliver to the DVR via the service connection. Basically if it's not a billing or lineup issue, they may tend to refer you to Sony or Philips for further support. If anyone is indeed reaching those companies, I have not seen any communication from them asking for units to be auth'd to record manually.

It's faster if you just send me a PM with your TSN. I usually get less than 10 of these a year, so it's really not something we're going to train all agents on. The knowledge article is there but not always easy for them to find.

For posterity's sake, the internal code currently assigned to this issue is 14-29-02. You won't find any info if you search the for this number, but if you give that # to our support agents, they will find the internal instructions on what to do in this situation.